John Agar
Riffed Movies *''Women of the Prehistoric Planet'' (Experiment #104) - as Doc Farrell *''Revenge of the Creature'' (Experiment #801) - as Dr. Clete Ferguson *''The Mole People'' (Experiment #803) - as Dr. Roger Bentley *''Attack of the Puppet People'' (Rifftrax) - as Bob Westley Biography John Agar (January 31, 1921 – April 7, 2002) was the son of a Chicago meatpacker and never aspired to an acting career until fate took a hand in 1945, when he met Shirley Temple, the former child star and one of the most famous young actresses in Hollywood. In a whirlwind romance, the 17-year-old Temple married the 25-year-old Agar. His good looks made him seem a natural candidate for the screen and, in 1946, he was signed to a six-year contract by producer David O. Selznick. He never actually appeared in any of Selznick's movies, but his services were loaned out at a considerable profit to the producer, beginning in 1948 with his screen debut (opposite Temple) in John Ford's classic cavalry drama Fort Apache, starring John Wayne and . His work in that movie led to a still larger role in Ford's She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, also starring Wayne. Those films were to mark the peak of Agar's mainstream film career, though John Wayne, who took a liking to the younger actor, saw to it that he had a major role in The Sands of Iwo Jima (1949), which was one of the most popular war movies of its era. In 1949, however, Temple divorced Agar and his career slowed considerably; apart from the film he did with Wayne, the most notable aspect of his career that year was his appearance in the anti-Communist potboiler I Married a Communist (aka The Woman on Pier 13). During the early '50s, he appeared in a series of low-budget programs such as The Magic Carpet, one of Lucille Ball's last feature films prior to the actress becoming a television star, and played leads in second features, including the offbeat comedy The Rocket Man. Agar seemed destined to follow in the same downward career path already blazed by such failed mid-'40s leading men as Sonny Tufts when a film came along at Universal-International in 1955 that gave his career a second wind. The studio was preparing a sequel to its massively popular Creature From the Black Lagoon, directed by Jack Arnold, and needed a new leading man; Agar's performance in an independent film called The Golden Mistress had impressed the studio and he was signed to do the movie. Revenge of the Creature, directed by Arnold, was nearly as successful as its predecessor, and Agar had also come off well, playing a two-fisted scientist. He was cast as the lead in Arnold's next science-fiction film, Tarantula, then in a Western, Star in the Dust, and then in The Mole People, another science-fiction title. In between, he also slipped in a leading-man performance in Hugo Haas' crime drama Hold Back Tomorrow. He left Universal when the studio refused to give him roles in a wider range of movies, but his career move backfired, limiting him almost entirely to science fiction and Western movies for the next decade. Agar was most visible over the next few years in horror and science-fiction films; it was the science-fiction films that he was most closely associated with and where he found an audience and a fandom. Coupled with his earlier movies for Universal, those films turned Agar into one of the most visible and popular leading men in science-fiction cinema and a serious screen hero to millions of baby-boomer preteens and teenagers. His career eventually moved into the realm of supporting and character parts, including a small but key role in Roger Corman's first big-budget, big-studio film The St. Valentine's Day Massacre. He returned to working with John Wayne in three Westerns, The Undefeated, Chisum, and Big Jake, and turned up every so often in bit parts and supporting roles, sometimes in big-budget, high-profile films such as the 1976 remake of King Kong, but mostly he supported himself by selling insurance. In the 1990s, however, Agar was rediscovered by directors such as John Carpenter, who began using him in their movies and television productions, and he worked onscreen in small roles into the 21st century.http://www.starpulse.com/Actors/Agar,_John/Biography/ Agar appeared in the 2005 film The Naked Monster alongside several other former B-Movie actors, including Paul Marco. Agar's marriage to Shirley Temple lasted five years and they had one daughter together. Following his divorce from Temple, Agar was married in 1951 to model Loretta Barnett Combs (1922-2000). They remained married until her death. They had two sons, Martin Agar and John G. Agar III. Agar died on April 7, 2002, in Burbank, California, of complications from emphysema. He was buried beside his wife at Riverside National Cemetery in Riverside, California.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Agar Filmography 1995 Words From Jerusalem 1993 Body Bags 1992 Invasion of Privacy 1991 The Perfect Bride 1990 Nightbreed 1990 Fear 1989 Miracle Mile 1987 Perfect Victims 1984 Highway to Heaven: "The Return of the Masked Rider" 1976 King Kong 1976 Charlie's Angels: "Target: Angels" 1975 The Amazing Mr. No-Legs 1971 Big Jake 1970 Chisum 1969 The Undefeated 1968 Night Fright 1967 The St. Valentine's Day Massacre 1966 Zontar, the Thing from Venus 1966 Johnny Reno 1966 Women of the Prehistoric Planet 1966 Waco 1966 Curse of the Swamp Creature 1965 Young Fury 1965 Branded: $10,000 for Durango 1965 Hell Raiders 1964 Law of the Lawless 1964 Stage to Thunder Rock 1963 Of Love and Desire 1963 Cavalleria Commandos 1963 The Young and the Brave 1962 Hand of Death 1962 Journey to the 7th Planet 1961 Lisette 1960 Raymie 1959 Invisible Invaders 1958 Attack of the Puppet People 1958 Frontier Gun 1958 Jet Attack / Paratroop Command 1957 Ride a Violent Mile 1957 Flesh and the Spur 1957 Daughter of Dr. Jekyll 1957 Joe Butterfly 1957 Flesh and the Spur 1957 The Brain from Planet Arous 1956 The Mole People 1956 Star in the Dust 1955 Tarantula 1955 Hold Back Tomorrow 1955 Revenge of the Creature 1955 The Lonesome Trail 1954 The Golden Mistress 1954 Shield for Murder 1954 Bait 1954 The Rocket Man 1953 Man of Conflict 1952 Woman of the North Country 1951 Along the Great Divide 1951 The Magic Carpet 1950 Breakthrough 1949 She Wore a Yellow Ribbon 1949 Adventure in Baltimore 1949 Sands of Iwo Jima 1949 I Married a Communist 1948 Fort Apachehttp://www.starpulse.com/Actors/Agar,_John/Filmography/ Gallery JohnAgarPrehistoricPlanet.jpg|Appearing in Women of the Prehistoric Planet MST3k- John Agar in Revenge of Creature.jpg|Appearing in Revenge of the Creature MST3k- John Agar in The Mole People.jpg|Appearing in The Mole People RiffTrax- John Agar in Attack Of The Puppet People.jpg|Appearing in Attack of the Puppet People Sources Category:Movie Actors Category:Recurring movie actors Category:Deceased Actors